Roseburg review. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 1885-1920, 1887-03-11
ROSEBURG REVIEW
FRIDAY, MARCH, Il, 1887.
HEIRTS IND HAEDs

/
summer of 1886. Can you realize it,
Then ripe, mellow autumn came to
gladden. our hearts came reaching oVt
her well-flled hands, and then slipped
away from us, rudely tossed aside by
Novembcr's winds. And now winter
with more than his accustomed severity
is loudly inviting himself to sit down
in the charmed circle, and am wonder
ing to-day as l,see the steadily falling
snow whether we are ready to welcome
him, ready to wrap our garments
about us, draw ourselves into snug cor
ners and DEFY his rough greetings
Whether we be willing or unwilling ito
yield him homage he is sure to demand
il Of us, and it is for us to adapt our
selves as gracefully as possible to our
altered condition, just as ii always be-
comes us to submit cheerfnlly to the
inevitable. How many lessons we
might learn in this art if we would!
How much less frettlng and complaining
there world be, did we but learn these
lessons Immeasurably are these lives
elevated when we pick up the lessons
that every day occurrences scatter about
us,-and I wonder if any life is really
monotonous if we look down into the
depths of its current. Somebody has
very wisely asserted that life is the
greatest possible entertainment to
everyone who thinks he can do much
with it; and it is in this thinking we
can do something with our lives that
our interest in them lies, the interest
which gives them zest and redeems
them from monotony. And it is this
effort to make the most of them which
awakens the undertones of music that
render the years melodious. Wierd
and plaintiye are the strains, some
times-so wierd and plaintive that
they seem inharmonious perhaps; but
when our ears that are dull of hearing
shall be unstopped and our sin blinded
eyes shall be opened that We see clearly
it may be that we shall find the riches
music and the rafest beauty where
there seems TO be only discord and de
formity now. All this comes to me
very naturally as I confront my life
and there is inspiration, there is com
fort and encouragement in this think
ing. 1t was very little thing tha
suggested these thoughts, too little t.
mention, did it not help prove tha
there are lessons everywhere which ar
well worth studyingl Behold tn
teaching, and that SO commonplace a
AFFAIR as the human hand is an obiec
lesson. Sometimes these hands ar
sensitive to the changes in the atmo'
phcre, become chafed and stiffene
by the sharp piercing wind and bitin
air of the chilly days of our winter, S
chafed and sore and stiff that they al
very clumsy hands untitled for tn
work which we require of them. Gu
neighbor at the dinner table the othe
8 .tlay..sat. ;;sa.ss.-ltef poor, sore hand
together, and in a worried grieyed wa
moaned about the raw, snowy weathe
and digcomforts it was bringing. An
as / listened to her I fell to thinkin
how adverse are all earth's influence
how full the world is of chapped hant
and unkind winds, these, or somethin
great deal worse than these, crushe
hopes, disappointed ambitions and ul
satifsed aspirations are sharper an
more piercing by far than any winte
storm, and human hearts are more sci
sitive than human hands, become
thousand times sorer when the roug
earth-storms beat upon them. "
every touch of earth is contaminatin:
there are chapped hands and sole
garments. there are bleeding wound
and aching hearts everywhere, for a
earth's influences are adverse. Ye
we need not blame our stricken worlC
it is the people who live in it rathe
than the world itself that emphasiz
this earth. Earth is good in its way
loving and beautiful, but it is OF
brothers and sisters that hurt us wit
unkind words and deeds, and, alas, W
infict upon them in the same wa
wounds that are deep, that are teri
bly, sore and aching.
O, what may we learn from thi
suggestive object,lesson and th
the thoughts which follow itl Doe
it not become us to give earnest hee
10 our words and acts lest we caus
our ncighbor's hands to chap an
bleed, lest we make their hearts ache
stripping their world of all its joys b
the foul breath of our unkindnes'
When Wig learn always to seek relic
in tho ali healing Fountain, the rud
earth winds and the rough tempest
will not cut and buffet US so, sine
there is a balm for every wound i
these life giving waters. W.
OAKLASD. Feb. "a, 1887.
InE Senate has passed bills appr'
priating about fifty millions for shiI
Of war, coast defenses and other wa
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